During the European Judo Championships from November 3 to 5, the French team won nine medals, including five titles. If Clarisse Agbégnénou disappointed, just like Madeleine Malonga and Audrey Tcheuméo, others, like Luka Mkheidze, shone in the internal race for the Blues for the Paris Olympics.
A shower of medals, five crowns and a few lessons… The European Judo Championships concluded on Sunday November 5 in Montpellier and France was there. Among both women and men, judokas have taken a big step towards their Olympic selection, with the objective of Paris-2024 being on everyone’s minds.
On the side of the French Judo Federation, we are above all pleased with an “extraordinary record”. The Blues leave with nine medals around their necks, including five gold, out of “fourteen possible categories (…), it’s magnificent, we can’t do much better”, says Stéphane Nomis, its president, on franceinfo . “We are extremely happy with our judokas”, who were “under pressure”.
Read alsoThe gargantuan ambitions of French judo for the Paris Olympics
A pressure caused in particular by the proximity of the Paris Olympics where French judokas and judokates are mainly in competition with compatriots to win the right to compete there. Indeed, in this martial art, the rule is ruthless for a country as competitive as France: only one representative per country and per weight category.
If the road to Paris is still long, these European Championships were announced as a first important step for the Olympic selection. Blue performance review.
Without competition
If she had no strong competitor in the -48 kg category, Shirine Boukli still made an impression by winning the first final of the weekend. A third consecutive European title for the native of Gard, gleaned at home. Nine months before the Paris Olympics, the 24-year-old judoka confirms her good form after her silver medal won last May at the World Championships in Doha.
Same story for Amandine Buchard in the -52 kg category. Dominated for most of the final, the Tokyo Olympic vice-champion ended up finding the opening with a ground movement during overtime. Alpha Djalo was also present in the -81 kg category. At the age of 27, he won his first medal in an international championship after numerous attempts while returning from a shoulder injury.
Those who took the advantage
For men in -60 kg, the Olympic selection will be played between Luka Mkheidze And Romain Valadier-Picard. Advantage to the first from now on. The PSG resident undoubtedly took a step ahead for Olympic qualification over the other Frenchman entered in the category, Romain Valadier-Picard, who still won bronze.
Also read on InfoMigrantsLuka Mkheidze: from Georgia to France, a long road to the podium in Tokyo
In the -70 kg category, Marie-Ève Gahié also won a certainly decisive round against Margaux Pinot. Expeditious throughout the competition, the 2019 world champion beat Russian Madina Taimazova in the final by ippon in less than two minutes. “I hope I have taken a big step but we must continue,” she said.
In the +100 kg category, Romane Dicko marked its territory. Still undefeated at the continental level after her victories in 2018, 2020 and 2022, she beat in the final, like last year, the Israeli Raz Hershko, world number 1 in the category, in an expeditious manner.
“It’s a European title in addition (…), I hope that I will still have plenty, but there is an Olympic medal to get before that,” reacted the 24-year-old judoka, in competition for selection for the Paris Games with Julia Tolofua, not selected in Montpellier due to shoulder surgery.
Romane Dicko, who revealed herself at the Tokyo Games in 2021 by winning an individual bronze medal, confirmed immediately by winning the World Championships in Tashkent in 2022 for her first participation, then the Masters at the end of the year. last year. But an accident at the World Championships in Doha last May and the rise of Julia Tolofua, a regular medalist at the highest level and reigning vice-world champion, made the selection for the Paris Olympics more uncertain than expected.
Everything has to be done
In the -90 kg category, nothing is decided. Drafted after the injury of Maxime-Gaël Ngayap Hambou, Axel Clerget did not take advantage of it (unclassified). But at the same time, Alexis Mathieu was poorly paid (7e) of a day where he manhandled the Georgian Olympic champion Lasha Bekauri. In the -73 kg category, Joan-Benjamin Gaba did not shine and finished unclassified. Enough to leave unresolved the question of the French representative in the category.
The anonymous service ofAurélien Diesse (-100 kg) does not resolve the question of Olympic qualification in this category either, even if the alternatives are non-existent.
They disappointed
Madeleine MalongaOlympic vice-champion in Tokyo, and the ghost Audrey Tcheumeo, fighting for the Olympic ticket in -78 kg, both missed their appointment. Unrecognizable, Tcheuméo lost in the repechage, while Malonga was beaten as soon as she entered the fray.
“I was withdrawn, I did not free myself. However, I was not stressed. I was on restraint, on calculation, which is not my strong point, and I did not managed to release the brake”, regretted Tcheuméo, double Olympic medalist. “I know that this is not the end. Given the way I have worked, it is not possible for it to stop there,” promised Madeleine Malonga.
But the biggest surprise came from Clarisse Agbégnénou. An active legend in French judo in -63 kg, she left the Hérault tatamis without a medal. On Saturday, she was only “a shadow of herself”, estimated her trainer, Ludovic Delacotte. “He missed quite a few things.”
After reaching the quarter-finals in difficulty, she was dominated by Kosovar Laura Fazliu, world number 2. Much less sharp than usual, she then lost in the repechage against the Hungarian Szofi Özbas at the end of overtime.
Following her elimination, the double Tokyo Olympic champion expressed “a lot of frustration”. “I’m very disappointed but I tell myself that it’s just as good, I’m going to work, it’s making me angry,” she declared, while putting things into perspective and assuring that she would come back stronger. “I’d rather lose here than at the Games.”
The other sacred monster of French judo, Teddy Riner, had skipped the European Championships as part of his preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympics, his fifth Olympics.